Containerization is the latest tool used primarily to develop and deploy apps in an accelerated manner. In the era of serverless computing and container technology, containers have become highly popular for a long time now. With the increase in popularity, there is an increase in the complexity levels of large containerized applications. Here comes the need of efficient container management platforms that can help in easily managing containerized applications. Today, Kubernetes and OpenShift are two big names in this arena and have become a major player in the container revolution. Popular, effective, scalable, robust and simplistic – both have their own user community to boast.

Here are features that are present in both Kubernetes as well as OpenShift:

Here is a first glance at both the container management platforms and their introductory parameters:

Kubernetes

OpenShift

Developers

Cloud Native Computing Foundation (CNCF)

Red Hat

Programming Language

Go

Go, Angular JS

Category

Cluster management software

Cloud computing, PaaS

License

Apache License 2.0

Apache License 2.0

Released In

2014

2011

Let's go through the nuances of Kubernetes and OpenShift.

Kubernetes

“Kubernetes (K8s) is an open-source system for automating deployment, scaling, and management of containerized applications.” –
Kubernetes

Originally born at Google, Kubernetes was released in 2015 as an open-source tool for all. Later, Google handed over the entire project to Cloud Native Computing Foundation (CNCF), operated by the Linux Foundation. Kubernetes is an open-source container as a service (CaaS) orchestration systems that automate deploying, scaling and managing of containerized apps, speeding up the development procedure. Since it has been handled by Google taskforce, there is a certain level of maturity that exists.

Key Features Of Kubernetes

Offers the freedom to take advantage of on-premises, hybrid, or public cloud infrastructure, letting you effortlessly move workloads;

OpenShift

Developed by Red Hat, OpenShift is a containerization software solution whose prime product is the OpenShift container platform, a PaaS managed by Kubernetes. OpenShift has been called the “Enterprise Kubernetes” by its vendor, Red Hat. It is written in a combination of Go and AngularJS. It possesses an Apache License. The original version allows developers to develop and deploy apps to the cloud and appends tools over a Kubernetes core to fasten development and deployment process.

Separate installation for dashboards, manual creation for the login page

Login page already available, easy creation of resources through a form

Which One to Choose Is Always A Tough Question

Both are open-source; both have a common base with Kubernetes at the core of OpenShift; both are popular; and both aim to facilitate faster application development. Because of its unique features and reliance on Kubernetes, OpenShift does have an added advantage of easy installation. Kubernetes is experienced and well-proven, although it does require a proper strategy for installation. Kubernetes is a standardized version and is available on an increased number of platforms than OpenShift. But OpenShift has many built-in components that make app containerization faster and effective. On top of both comes a crucial decision – choosing the IT service provider who has the experience, expertise, and infrastructure to help you with the entire application development lifecycle. That holds more crucial and should be considered very sincerely.